"Whether our CEO makes it
or not, Quirky will continue to invent incredible new things" a
narrator reads over a scene showing Kaufman tenuously tied to the
front of a high-speed trainQuirky

"Ben has always been, and continues to be, deeply committed
to the spirit and values of Quirky's community of
creative people around the world, as well as its inventors and
its partners," Kaufman's resignation announcement
reads.

The title harkens back to an ad campaign
Quirky held in 2013 that plastered pictures of
Kaufman on billboards and taxis, declaring him the “world’s least
important CEO” and giving out his phone number.

The idea was that Kaufman wasn't important because Quirky's
strength lies in its online community.

The company gives regular people the chance of becoming a
bona-fide inventors by submitting ideas to its website.

Ideas were reviewed and voted on by Quirky's staff and the
community, and popular products were selected for
manufacturing. Quirky took over the design, manufacturing,
marketing, and retailing of those products. Community members who
helped bring the product to life were given a cut of the
sales. Quirky aimed to turn napkin sketches into
real products.

"Ben continues to believe in Quirky’s core mission to make
invention accessible and believes that mission will live on," the
announement contines. "Effective immediately, current Chief
Financial Officer Ed Kremer will be the CEO."

Kremer joined the company in September 2014.

"We got a CFO in here who knew what the hell he was doing, and he
told us a harsher reality than anyone else would tell us,"
Kaufman previously
told Business Insider. Kremer took a toll of the
company's financials and went into "fix-it mode."

Quirky decided to scale back in a few ways.

It had a round of layoffs (which, compounded with cuts in
November and December, amounted to more 20% of the company),
decided to stop making so many products, and shut down its
ecommerce site. A new initiative, called Powered By Quirky, would
align the startup with major brands like Mattell and headphone
maker Harman and help those corporations figure out new products
to launch. Quirky itself would only manufacture products in three
categories: "connected home," "electronics," and "appliances."

By February, the startup decided to hire bankers to help it
either sell Wink or raise new outside investment. But the process
of selling or raising money for Wink was "moving along," Kaufman
previously told
Fortune, until the Wink recall put those efforts on ice.

Today, community members comment on Kaufman's resignation letter
with support.

"This makes me very sad," someone with the username Teri Frantz
writes. "Best of luck to Ben in his next adventure."